plungevsplungesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“plunge” and “plunges” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#15,246
“plunge” frequency rank
#37,160
“plunges” frequency rank
52406
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature plunge plunges
Definition To thrust into liquid, or into any penetrable substance; to immerse. third-person singular simple present indicative of plunge

Letter map: plunge vs plunges

Shared letters muted; letters that set plunge and plunges apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. plunge runs 6 letters (CCVCCV) against plunges's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
plunge
7 ch
plunges

Corpus notes: plunge and plunges

plunge and plunges are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “plunge” sits inside “plunges”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52406, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

plunge is recorded at frequency rank #15,246, classified as averb, pronounced /plʌnd͡ʒ/. plunges is at rank #37,160, tagged as averb.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 52406, this pair ranks #157,304 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of plunge vs plunges

Shared letters: eglnpu. Private to "plunge": -. Private to "plunges": s.

"plunge" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "plunges" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • plunge ← lpunge · pllunge · plnuge · plugne · pluneg · plungge · plunnge · pplunge
  • plunges ← lpunges · pllunges · plnuges · plugnes · plunegs · plungess · plungges · plungse

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "plunge" and "plunges" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “plunge” sits inside “plunges”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "plunge" vs "plunges" - which ranks higher?
"plunge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,246 in our English list, against #37,160 for "plunges". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "plunge" vs "plunges" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "plunge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "plunges" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #157,304 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "plunge" and "plunges" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plunges vs prunes". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #157,304 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list